Without Woods, it'll be kids at play

As a golf event, it has become a biennial tradition, and not a good one. The Ryder Cup rolls around, the European team rolls over the U.S. team, the U.S. captain says he can't for the life of him understand why the ball rolls the way it does, and the criticism rolls in and swamps the whole mess.

Starting Monday, it's Ryder Cup week, so let's get this thing rolling one more time.

No, it hasn't been a great nine years for U.S. Ryder Cup fortunes. Despite encouraging words from captain Paul Azinger, the fact that Tiger Woods will be sitting out when the matches start Friday at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville means it's likely to get worse before it gets better.

If that's true, maybe Davis Love III will be able to figure it out ... if he's named the U.S. captain for 2010, as many figure.

As for Azinger, he has his hands full.

"It will be unique to be on our home soil as underdogs, but clearly, the European team is strong ... one of the strongest teams I've ever seen them bring across here," Azinger said.

And the U.S. team?

"We will be an underdog," he said. "We are missing Tiger Woods. ... He is the greatest player on earth, arguably the greatest player ever. That's a big blow to us."

Woods is famously absent from the Ryder Cup scene for the first time since 1995. He will spend the time continuing to rehabilitate his surgically repaired left knee.

Although the U.S. has won just once in the five times with Woods as part of the team, it's difficult to develop a scenario that playing without him is going to represent a great opportunity for improvement.

Lanny Wadkins, who in 1995 was the last captain of a U.S. team that actually held the lead going into the Sunday singles (though it still lost), said the inexperience of the U.S. team with six first-time players may actually help. After all, they've had no part in any previous losing.

What saved their butts in 1999 was the biggest single-day comeback in Ryder Cup history. Down 10-6 at the Country Club in Brookline, Mass., the U.S. team won 8 1/2 of a possible 12 points and edged Europe 14 1/2-13 1/2. It remains the only U.S. victory since 1993.

Taking a painful walk down memory lane, Woods' presence hasn't actually made much of a difference, especially in the last two Ryder Cups. In his five Ryder Cup appearances, Woods is 10-13-2.

Wadkins insists that the core of young players on the U.S. team -- Anthony Kim, Hunter Mahan, J.B. Holmes and Boo Weekley among them -- will make some noise in Louisville. Ben Curtis is also a Ryder Cup rookie. But maybe missing Woods isn't going to hurt as badly as many believe, Wadkins said.

"Yeah, I think it's going to work the other way," he said. "Everybody else gets psyched up to play Tiger, so that's affected his record. And I think he intimidates his partners a little bit. They try too hard to impress him, especially in alternate shot.

"But I have to say I like the American lineup this year. I like the youth. I think it could be a huge coming-out party for Anthony Kim, maybe Mahan. And I'd love to see J.B. and Kenny Perry play together. They might birdie every hole."

Then there is the putting situation, an act that strikes fear into the heart of every U.S. captain. For some reason, the Europeans always outplay the U.S. players on the greens; it's just that no one can figure out the reason.

"No idea," Wadkins said. "Maybe Europe's not used to seeing greens this great and their eyes get as big as saucers, and our guys are so used to them, they're spoiled."

The Valhalla layout may be challenging if you're not hitting it long. The 7,496-yard layout, redesigned by Jack Nicklaus for the Ryder Cup, is about 300 yards longer than it played in its last turn in the spotlight, the 2000 PGA Championship won by Woods over Bob May in a playoff.

When he announced his four captain's picks the day after Labor Day, Azinger said there's not a lot of rough and that a bomber is probably going to like the course.

"I just don't want anyone to feel handcuffed off the tee," he said. "Well, I mean, I don't care if Europe feels handcuffed, but I don't want our guys to."

Half the team is rookies, but six U.S. players have Ryder Cup experience: Mickelson, Perry, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Justin Leonard and Chad Campbell. There are four first-time Ryder Cup players on Europe's team: Soren Hansen, Graeme McDowell, Justin Rose and Oliver Wilson.

If experience matters, consider the fact that the six U.S. players with Ryder Cup experience are a combined 19-37-17. Europe's eight Ryder Cup veterans are a combined 40-27-2.

Maybe experience is overrated, but it's hard to figure how not having Woods can be held to the same standard.